


if you love me let me know

by xuxikr



Series: One Month, One Fic: 2019 [13]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Laboratory, Foster Care, M/M, Romance, Science Boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21571465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xuxikr/pseuds/xuxikr
Summary: Jeno has lived a relatively quiet life—enter Huang Renjun.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun & Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno
Series: One Month, One Fic: 2019 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1396381
Comments: 13
Kudos: 215





	if you love me let me know

**Author's Note:**

> yeah this is self indulgent what about it

Jeno has lived a relatively quiet life. He goes to university, spends the weekend with his friends and does work at the central laboratory on the campus. He’s mostly helping around the Mycology laboratory for extra credit, but he will be lying if he says he isn’t eyeing Mycology for his thesis topic next year.

His life is dull, almost boring as it’s been full of routine ever since he’s been tasked to take care of his own well-being. The only time that Jeno has felt as if anything exciting happened to him is when Donghyuck introduced him to Renjun.

It’s a by-chance meaning, Donghyuck and Jeno are walking the campus to get to their next class when they run into Donghyuck’s friend from high school. Jeno stands at the side awkwardly while the two friends reunite, and Donghyuck only remembers to introduce him when Jeno tries to shove his elbow at Donghyuck subtly.

It goes from there, Renjun’s profile pops up in the _People You May Know_ column of his Facebook newsfeed and Jeno spends at least thirty minutes stalking through his profile before he sends a friend request. 

You know, _modern romance_.

They’ve been hanging out quite often recently, eating dinner together, watching the latest movies together, Donghyuck even teases them now but they’re staying lowkey for the moment. It’s only been a month, after all, and everyday, Jeno still learns a lot of new things about Renjun.

So, really, other than Renjun being the most exciting part of Jeno’s life, he has lived a relatively quiet life.

“Your new research assistant is coming in tomorrow,” Kun informs him Tuesday afternoon, as he’s folding his laboratory gown and stashing it into his backpack. 

Jeno’s in the middle of washing test tubes and unused Petri dishes for autoclaving later this afternoon when he looks up at Kun, who’s almost ready to head out of the lab. “Hyung,” Jeno whines, unable to help the small pout on his lips and the stomp of his foot, as if his tantrums would get Kun to stay, “do you really have to go?”

Kun only laughs at him, and even though the older is laughing at him, the kindness in Kun’s smile still brings him some sort of serenity. After all, it’s the same smile that he has given him during the couple of times he has accidentally dropped a glassware. “Don’t worry, Doyoung is one of the best graduate students under Professor Choi so you don’t have to worry about following him around. He’s neat in the lab, and he might even help you write your thesis if you’re good to him.”

That brings some sense of comfort to him. He can’t help that Kun is moving to an off-campus site and now this Doyoung person is going to be in charge of the lab from now on. He’s only tailing Professor Choi because he’s heard from upperclassmen that she’s the best when it comes to research so Jeno has to choose the best, or at least, try to get on the best’s good side when it’s early. 

“Okay,” Jeno says, turns off the tap and prepares to dry the Petri dishes and test tubes before he can wrap them in newspaper, “I would give you a goodbye hug but you’re already out of your lab gown.”

Kun laughs. “That’s fine, Jeno. Good luck, let’s keep in touch, okay?”

“Of course.”

“How’s the lab today?”

Dinner with Renjun isn’t always fancy, sometimes it’s just _this_ , sometimes it’s just reheating left overs from either of their dorms and enjoying it in the presence of each other. Tonight, it’s Renjun’s cooking from today’s lunch that their devouring.

“Ugh,” Jeno groans, accepting the plastic container of side dish from Renjun, “Kun hyung left today and he said his replacement was coming in tomorrow,” he takes a couple pieces, then hands them back to Renjun, “don’t really wanna talk about it.”

“That’s okay,” Renjun says understandingly, receiving the container back as he puts some on his plate. Jeno’s thankful that Donghyuck is out on a Tinder date, so he doesn’t crash their dinner like the last time, “let’s talk about something else, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Jeno says, leaning forward just enough so their feet brush together under the table, Renjun smiles at him, “your brother, right? He’s coming home?”

Renjun’s face lights up at that. “Yes! He landed today, but he’s kind of busy during his first days, might take a while before we can hang out.”

Jeno shifts in his seat. “That’s fine, he can take all the time in the world.”

“So what? You’re meeting his brother soon—big deal?” 

“Hyuck, you don’t get it… it’s like… going on the next level, meet the family you know what I’m saying?”

Donghyuck laughs, shoving his face into his opened Junqueira’s Basic Histology Text and Atlas as he does so. The library is quiet except for them, so Jeno kicks his feet underneath the table to silence him.

Donghyuck doesn’t stop laughing. “Are you serious? You’re nervous about meeting his brother? Look—his older brother is totally _easy_. Actually, with the fact that he has dealt with me and Renjun when we were pre-teens might just mean that he’ll like you better than he likes either of us.”

“Donghyuck, what does that mean?”

“It means what it means, now leave me alone—I have to read through Chapter 5 and I’m already losing my mind. Bother me next time about this.”

Wednesday afternoon comes too soon, and Jeno goes to the lab ten minutes earlier than usual so he doesn’t have to face awkwardly entering the laboratory with the new research assistant waiting for him. He regrets not asking Kun more information about him, if he liked mooncakes or croissants as there’s a really good bakery just down the street from the university. He wonders if it’s too late to text Kun and make a run for it now.

Jeno stashes his bag at the shelves, wears his lab gown and signs his attendance on the logbook. He’s used to Kun playing music in the lab, but now Kun isn’t here so Jeno plays Taeyeon’s Starlight on loudspeaker as he signs his name.

“Is that Taeyeon?” 

The door bursts open to reveal a tall man, just quite a few centimeters taller than himself and he holds his way in such a way that tells Jeno from now on that he’s in charge.

Scary.

Jeno tunes down the music and shoves his phone back into his pocket, giving the new research assistant a smile and a deep bow to show his best sides. “It is—sorry, I was just… used to Kun hyung playing music in the lab so I—”

The new research assistant laughs and waves it off goodnaturedly, unlocking the door to what used to be Kun’s space in the lab. “Oh, it’s fine. I love Taeyeon. Kun and I used to be in the same talent club in our undergrad, continue playing it. That’s my favorite song, actually.”

The revelation that he likes Taeyeon too make Jeno feel more at ease with him immediately. Someone that has the same music taste is definitely someone to be trusted. "Kun hyung told me you were good friends in college." He recalls, omitting the part where Kun said that Doyoung might help him write his thesis if he does good. 

" _Were_ ?" Doyoung gasps, almost dramatically after he reappears from the small office where he placed his bag. "We _are_ still friends! At least the last time I checked… I'm gonna have to send him a text. Thanks for telling me…?" 

"Oh!" He realizes quickly, bowing a full 90 degree as he introduces himself. "My name is Jeno, Lee Jeno. I'm taking up Biology. Nice to meet you." 

"Of course you're taking Biology, you wouldn't be here if you weren't right?" 

Jeno knows that Doyoung is saying it jokingly, but because he doesn't know him that well and Jeno honest to god feel like his knees are going to give in from the criticism, he doesn't want to assume. So, he stays there, smiling and not saying anything. 

Doyoung must have realized his tension, because he loosens up and fills the silence with laughter. "I'm joking! I'm glad you're here, Jeno. Shall we get to work?" 

"Yes… of course…" 

Their campus isn't the prettiest, neither is it a tourist attraction. But when the darkness bites and the streetlights start to flicker, it gets a little bit more beautiful in the night. Though—nothing makes it more beautiful than walking with Renjun at night, holding hands as they catch up. Donghyuck often berates them for public display of affection but really, they can't be bothered. 

"How was your day today?" Jeno asks first as they pass by a group of students practicing a performance. Campus life for them is like this, a lot of students are utilizing the free spaces in the university as a training ground. A lot of people are rehearsing choreographies in the open area, and some are even doing projects. It’s a buzzing campus, noisy and full of life—but Jeno won’t have it any other way.

Renjun swings their hands together when they walk. Jeno remembers being nervous during the first time he spent a day with Renjun without Donghyuck’s presence to buffer them. He vaguely remembers Donghyuck telling _him ‘you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’_ or something along those lines, but whatever it is that Donghyuck told him, it worked because now he’s dating his crush. 

“Ugh,” Renjun groans exasperatedly and Jeno squeezes his hand a little bit tighter as they walk. They find a bench in the campus park and rest there, it’s not long before Renjun’s laying his head against Jeno’s shoulder as he rants. “Abnormal Psychology absolutely kicked my ass. I don’t know why I’m doing this to myself.” 

“You’re Huang Renjun, you can kick anyone’s ass if you wanted to.” Jeno says and he feels Renjun laugh against his shoulder. “Plus, my baby is so smart—isn’t he? The smartest in the whole world?”

Renjun pinches his side at the compliment, unwarranted but not unwelcome. “You’re so annoying.” He says, but without much bite to it. Renjun isn’t looking him in the eyes as he denies the compliment, but Jeno doesn’t stop staring at him.

Jeno figures that this thing is what he likes the most about dating—the butterflies, the hand holding, the endless exchange of compliments until someone ends up in a blushing mess. It may seem a little childish, but as long as Renjun finds his silly bouts of affection annoying—no one can tell him to stop. 

“You’re the smart one,” Renjun finally rebuts, lifting his head to look at Jeno with a scowl. “Didn’t you get the highest score for Biostatistics on your last quiz? God, I can’t deal with math at all—you know I almost failed Trigonometry? It’s so crazy. You’re such a nerd.”

“Hey—” Jeno snaps, “I’m not a nerd!” 

“You’re studying biological science, and you’re friends with Donghyuck—that makes you a nerd by default.”

“But doesn’t that make you a nerd too? You’re friends with him!” 

“Then maybe that’s why we’re so compatible?” Renjun says, tilting his head to the side like an innocent puppy. Though, there’s a glint in his eyes that says he knows exactly just what he’s doing to Jeno. 

“God,” Jeno almost doubles over laughing. Renjun’s wit and smart mouth is always something that Jeno still gets surprised by, he says the cheesiest things through the most unconventional ways and—unfortunately for him, Jeno likes them all. “Huang Renjun, you really are something else.” 

Renjun smiles, satisfied with the reaction as he stands up and drags Jeno back up to his feet. “Of course I am,” he says with much confidence, pulling Jeno to a run and Jeno is helpless but to follow, “come on let’s eat, you _nerd_.”

In the short amount of time that Renjun has been around Jeno’s life, Jeno has learned a few things about him. Their tastes in food clash, Renjun likes spicy food and Jeno tries to avert them because he has weird stomach problems after eating spicy food but if Renjun wants to eat malatang, who is Jeno to say no to him?

Plus, he enjoys malatang—no stomachache can stop him. Having Renjun to eat with him is just a bonus. 

Playing footsies under the table, and paying attention to no one else but each other, this is how they have dinner on a good day. Meaning, the both of them having enough money to splurge a little bit on one meal. Jeno thinks this kind of days is always a good day.

“Oh by the way,” Renjun pipes up just as they’re finishing dinner, Jeno makes a hum from the back of his throat to recognize him, “my brother wants to go to the BoA concert with me in two weeks. Do you want to come with us or are you busy?”

The mention of Renjun’s brother has him sweating in his seat, he knows that he shouldn’t be _this_ nervous but he still is. He thinks of his calendar on his phone and if there is something that’s scheduled next week and then Jeno remembers—

“Ah,” he sighs, pouts and scratches the back of his ear. “My Ecology lab fieldtrip is in two weeks remember? When is the concert exactly?”

Renjun’s doing that thing again, where his eyes become wider than they are with his plump lips puckering into a pout. It’s the kind of power move that Renjun _knows_ always works on Jeno. “On Saturday…” 

“Oh,” Jeno sighs, and as much as he’s weak for anything that concerns Renjun, this is something that he can’t get out of. “I’ll be scouring the mountains and counting how many trees there are in one square meter by that time then…”

Renjun sticks his tongue out at him. “You’re such a nerd.”

“I’m not!”

“You are! It’s fine though, you be safe in the mountains okay? I want you to come back to me in one piece—don’t want you to get mauled by a bear…”

Renjun’s worried, no matter how much he tries to hide it with humor, Jeno can see right through it. “There are no bears in these mountains, Renjun.” Jeno reaches over the table, crosses the space in between their resting hands and holds Renjun’s hand over it. 

Renjun squeezes back. “Still! You have to meet my brother before you die, or I’ll kill you myself if you die in the mountains.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure to come back in one piece, then.”

“You better.”

Working at the lab is less scary now. Of course, being with a person of authority who can make or break your student career always brings about a sense of terror, Doyoung is actually a lovely person. For some reason, Doyoung always has biscuits in his bag and even though the rule is to never eat inside the laboratory—Doyoung hands him packets of biscuits once they’re done disinfecting the entire laboratory.

They’re almost done for today, and it’s been a week since Doyoung got assigned to his lab and since Jeno started working under him. And Jeno has learned a lot of things from Doyoung beyond laboratory protocol.

“Do you know where the Psychology building is?” Doyoung asks out of nowhere, popping his head out of his office as Jeno’s cleaning up around the laboratory. Psychology makes him think of Renjun, but now isn’t really the time.

“Yes, it’s the same building as the biology department, just a floor above it.” He says, stowing the broom away. “Why?”

“My brother’s a psychology student and I want to surprise him.” Doyoung says, a grin with huge pride embedded upon it appearing. Jeno’s heart flutters at the mention of psychology, and he can’t seem to stop himself from running once Renjun enters his brain.

“My boyfriend’s also a psychology student—maybe they know each other?” 

Doyoung makes a delighted noise from the back of his throat. “What! That’s amazing, what’s your boyfriend’s name?”

“His name’s—”

There’s a knock on the door, followed by it opening slowly and two heads pop out from behind it. Jeno recognizes them as freshmen kids but doesn’t know their name for him to know what they’re here for.

The taller one speaks. “Hi? I’m Jisung—this is Chenle… we’re looking for uh—um…”

Chenle supplies, “we’re looking for Mr. Kim? Professor Suh wants to talk to you so he’s asking you to come to his lab…” 

“Oh,” Doyoung’s shoulders tense at the mention of the professor, “thank you, Jisung and Chenle. Please tell him I’ll be over in a bit.”

Chenle and Jisung bow in Doyoung’s direction, and Jisung waves at Jeno before he exits. It makes Jeno wonder if they’ve met before—he really can’t remember.

“Professor Suh? Isn’t he from the Physics department? What could he want?” It’s mostly Jeno thinking to himself, but Doyoung hears him and dismisses him curtly.

“You can go now, Jeno… please.”

He doesn’t prod further, and plus, he has a date. “Huh. Alright. Take care, hyung.”

The night before he leaves for the field trip, Renjun sleeps over at his dorm. And usually, Donghyuck usually hates it when Renjun stays over because that means he gets the sole VIP ticket to seeing them flirt with each other endlessly—tonight’s quite different, because Donghyuck is also busy sleeping over at another person’s dorm. (Someone named Jaemin from Tinder, and Jeno doesn’t want to ask further unless Donghyuck tells it himself. As long as Donghyuck is being safe, then he really can’t stop him.)

“You’ll be gone for a whole week… a whole week… five whole days…” Renjun says as he plays with Jeno’s fingers, they’re cuddling by the couch, a movie that Renjun chose playing in the TV. He doesn’t even know whose Netflix account they’re using.

“It’s just five days.” Jeno says, even though he isn’t quite sure how to survive five days without seeing Renjun face to face. It’s been quite the ride dating him, and he’s seen him everyday since they started dating so this sudden change is going to shake them both, that’s for sure.

“You’re right.” Renjun drops Jeno’s hands, tucks his own hands under his arms as he crosses them over his chest. “I’ve lived years of my life not knowing you, I’m sure I can survive five days.”

“But you can still text me, and call me—”

“There won’t be signal in the mountains right?”

“I can try and find signal…”

Jeno always thinks that Renjun is cute, and maybe he can blame this to the newness of their relationship, but during these times when Renjun is trying so hard not to be upset—when he tries and holds it all in but it fails ultimately because he can’t help but wear his heart on his sleeve, this is when Jeno thinks that Renjun is the cutest. 

“Okay, and if you do find signal, make sure to send me a text message so I’m sure that you didn’t get mauled by a bear okay?”

“Of course.”

And as much as Jeno would like to say that they spent the rest of the night watching movies and cuddling, the truth is that, they spent the rest of the night making out on the couch—completely breaking Donghyuck’s rule of no doing stuff on places they share. They kiss like they’re never going to meet again, like they’re going to miss each other for months but Jeno isn’t complaining. All he can remember when he wakes up to leave for the field trip tomorrow is the taste of Renjun on his tongue, and his skin burning where Renjun has touched him. 

If he isn’t sure how to survive five days without Renjun, now, he really doesn’t know if he can even survive 24 hours without him.

The fieldtrip goes okay, and unlike Renjun feared, there’s actually signal at where they’re staying so they still have kept in touch. The little hotel that accommodates them is homey, and although he still rooms with Donghyuck during the trip because they’ve been assigned roommates by their surnames, it’s really not that bad.

The view is to die for, honestly, Donghyuck’s taking photos of it every morning and there are the candid shots of Jeno who has just woken up from his sleep, peering out of the hotel room window as he drinks his morning coffee. He’s more than sure that Donghyuck has sent said photographs to Renjun.

The fieldwork—not so much, they’ve been hiking the mountain everyday to count the density of a species in the area and it’s not as fun as he thought it’d be. It’s mostly them standing under the sun, and him yelling at Donghyuck from 10 meters away, reading lab manual instructions to him because Donghyuck has forgotten to bring his own. It’s been stressful and it reminds Jeno why he prefers lab work over fieldwork but, it’s fun.

On the day of BoA’s concert, Jeno passes out early because of exhaustion. 

Returning to the city is hard, mostly because Jeno has begun to miss the trees and the mountain view but he figures it isn’t that hard—because the moment Renjun bounds to his arms and welcomes him with the biggest bear hug, the views in the mountains and the early morning sunrise have nothing on the sight of Renjun’s smile.

“You’re back!” Renjun beams at him when he pulls away, twirling him around to check for injuries. It’s not unusual for Renjun to be up this early on a Sunday morning, but Jeno still feels touched that he waited for their arrival. Donghyuck is somewhere right behind him lugging their luggage around. 

“No injuries?” Renjun asks once he’s looked at Jeno from head to toe, front to back. “Didn’t get mauled by a bear?” 

“Of course not.” Jeno says, trying to pull Renjun in a hug which the other easily succumbs to. “I promised you, didn’t I? I won’t get hurt.” 

“I came back too, thanks for asking.” Donghyuck pipes up from behind them, and they turn around to look at him but their limbs never separating. Donghyuck is either still sleepy or is positively glaring at them. 

“What’s got you so pissed off?” Renjun’s laughing now and he pulls away from Jeno to sling an arm over Dongyuck’s shoulders, “woke up on the wrong side of the bed?”

“Woke up,” Donghyuck states flatly, “that’s the only reason why I’m pissed off—I woke up.”

Renjun looks at Jeno, which Jeno only returns with a shrug. They both know that Donghyuck is not a morning person, but perhaps the motion sickness has gotten the best out of him too. 

“How about I treat you guys to breakfast so you don’t feel as pissed off?” Renjun offers, which earns a delighted sound from Jeno. It’s been a while since they’ve hung out, the three of them—so any opportunity to be together is good to him.

“No thanks,” Donghyuck shrugs Renjun’s arm off and hands him over to Jeno, “I’m really sleepy, I’ll catch you guys later when I’m human enough.”

With Renjun’s arm awkwardly slung over Jeno’s shoulders because of their height difference, they watch as Donghyuck walks back to their dorms, half-asleep.

“Well, that’s something.” Renjun says when Donghyuck is out of earshot. “Are you sure he’s fine?”

“You’ve known him longer than I do,” Jeno replies with a shrug, “and he’s always like this early in the morning. I’m always scared to wake him up for classes.”

Renjun laughs. “So I guess it’s just you and me?”

“Is that offer for free breakfast still up? If so, I would like to take advantage of that please.” 

“Of course.”

They find a pancake place not too far away from the campus, Donghyuck has also unknowingly taken Jeno’s luggage with him on his sleepy way back to their dorms so Jeno’s sitting comfortably in the diner with Renjun next to him. Five days of eating next to Donghyuck or with their other classmates at the mess hall of the hotel they stayed in has made him realize how much he enjoys spending this time of his day with Renjun.

Renjun has strawberries on his pancakes, and Jeno has blueberries on his—Renjun’s been stealing strawberries on his plate for the last couple of bites. 

From his side, Renjun tugs on his shirt to get his attention and Jeno looks over to where Renjun is showing him his phone screen.

“Look at this picture of me and my brother after BoA’s concert on Saturday. Best. Night. Of. My. Life.” Renjun leans over to show him the picture on his phone, and Jeno is halfway through shoving the next bite of pancakes into his mouth when he sees the image in Renjun’s phone.

It’s Doyoung—the graduate student he’s working for in the laboratory, posing in close proximity with Renjun as they hold up their BoA lightsticks with pride. 

Like big red traffic lights, the words Doyoung is Renjun’s older brother flash in front of his very eyes.

Jeno feels like his head is spinning, it’s too much information all at once—it reminds him of a 2-hour lecture in Invertebrate Zoology but this is way worse than that. How come he never connected the dots? Plus, isn’t Renjun’s surname _Huang_ and Doyoung’s is _Kim_? Plus, he’s sure that he paid close attention to Renjun telling him that he’s from China…

“That’s Doyoung hyung,” Jeno blurts out, staring at the photo in obvious shock. Renjun looks at him, makes a sound of surprise and confusion at how Jeno knows his brother. 

“How did you know my brother’s name?”

When he first feel nervousness and axiety at the thought of meeting Renjun’s brother, he never thought that Doyoung being is direct superior would have had something to do with it. But here he is now, taking Renjun’s phone in in his hands with sticky maple syrup-laden fingers to try and make sense of this.

“He’s the grad student I’m working for at the lab!”

It all boils down to Renjun forgetting to tell Jeno one of the most important detail about his life—he’s currently in the process of being adopted by Doyoung’s family. Renjun tells him that he’s been with Doyoung’s family under foster care since his late childhood. His past isn’t really a story he likes to tell, and Jeno respects that—but in no way is Renjun ashamed of having a foster family. He grew up with Doyoung’s family like his own, and they treat each other like how any biologically related brothers would. The adoption process has been really hard for them despite all their best efforts, that’s why Renjun’s twenty now—and the process is still on going. 

And Jeno understands it all now, he just doesn’t think he’s ready to meet Doyoung in the sense of being Renjun’s boyfriend—but here he is, sitting in a restaurant in his best attire with Renjun next to him, and unsurprisingly, Donghyuck sitting on Renjun’s other side because he wanted to meet with Doyoung too.

“Jeno, stop bouncing your knee you’re making the entire table shake!” Donghyuck scolds, peeking over Renjun who looks at him with worry. Renjun puts a hand on his thigh under the table, and it’s effective to stop the nervous bouncing of his leg.

“Sorry—” he exhales, “just nervous… I mean… it’s Doyoung hyung…”

Renjun massages his thigh, scratches at his knee over his jeans and smiles at him. “Do you want to go back to the dorms? It’s fine, I can tell Doyoung hyung you felt sick.”

“You’ve met Doyoung hyung before, right? You’re working for him…” Donghyuck comments.

“It’s different,” Jeno hates that he’s being so whiney right now, “I’m nervous because now I’m meeting him as Renjun’s boyfriend and I’m scared what if he ends up not liking me for him?”

Jeno’s looking at both Donghyuck and Renjun, and the stark contrast in their expressions would be comical if Jeno isn’t so deathly anxious right now. Donghyuck has his eyebrows creased in between his forehead, the look of disgust that’s ever so familiar is crossing his face and Jeno is sure he is one more word away from barfing all over them.

Renjun—he’s entirely different of course, there’s the fond, almost never-leaving smile on his face as he looks at Jeno. His eyes are lit up with stars in them, and if Jeno didn’t know it’s just the lighting of the restaurant—he would’ve said something so cheesy right now. The look on his face tells Jeno that he wants to kiss him, but he doesn’t want to lean in to close the gap in the fear of Doyoung walking in on them any minute now. 

“Jeno,” Renjun sighs, squeezes his thigh a little harder before his hand moves up to find Jeno’s. “I’ve only spoken good things about you to Doyoung hyung, and I’m sure he’s not going to spite you out of nowhere just because you’re my boyfriend. After all, he did say he thinks his new laboratory assistant was quite nice.” 

Of course, Renjun always knows how to comfort him. And it does help Jeno get out of his head a little. After all, Renjun knows his brother best no matter what Jeno’s fears may tell him.

“God, the traffic still shocks me—hey everyone—Donghyuck?! What are you doing here?”

Instinctively, Jeno stands up to greet Doyoung with a bow just as Doyoung comes to put Donghyuck in a headlock. Renjun’s dragged up by Jeno standing up because they’ve been holding hands and the ruckus they paint is a comedic picture to everyone in the restaurant.

“Can we please sit down first?” Renjun calls out to everyone, and Doyoung releases Donghyuck almost immediately just as Donghyuck sticks his tongue out at Doyoung. 

Doyoung finally catches Jeno’s eyes as they settle down, and Jeno can’t help but to smile nervously.

Of course, Renjun is always right. Doyoung doesn’t hate him.

Doyoung doesn’t treat him differently, and now that he’s thinking about it, it’s easy to know why Renjun grew up to be who he is. Doyoung is headstrong, who knows what he wants and knows how to get what he wants. It’s a trait that Jeno wants to learn too, it must be the reason why he felt so attracted to Renjun as well.

Although Doyoung is nice to him throughout dinner, he asks burning questions that has Jeno embarrassed. Things like what’s his first impression of Renjun, what does he like most about Renjun, if he has ever talked bad about Doyoung to Renjun and Doyoung even asks if he’s already thinking for a thesis topic because he wants to help him out with writing it. 

Doyoung also tells him that he’s really happy that Renjun ended up being the psychology student boyfriend he was talking about and Jeno unknowingly asks about Professor Suh, which then ensues the tables to be turned, with Doyoung now on the hot seat. 

It’s Donghyuck that reveals that Professor Suh was once an ex-boyfriend, right now though, he isn’t sure what relationship he shares with Doyoung. That’s the information they’re currently trying to extract from the red-faced Doyoung as they enjoy dessert. 

“This is so fun,” Donghyuck blurts after they’re done with dessert, stomachs filled with good food and hearts filled with delightful conversations, they made Doyoung admit that he’s now _exes with benefits_ with Professor Suh after much interrogation and that’s probably something that Jeno will have to try and forget for the next coming weeks.

“It is, we should do this again.” Renjun says, he’s still holding Jeno’s hand under the table.

There’s a vocalization of agreement from Jeno and Doyoung before Donghyuck speaks again.

“Next time, Doyoung hyung should bring Professor Suh and I’ll bring my boyfriend.”

“What?”

“You have a boyfriend?!” 

“Since when?!” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> mhmmm im not so sure about the process of adoption in korea but i did read that adult adoption is a thing, so please feel free to educate me on this if anyone can :) as usual, super unbeta-ed but i hope you enjoy!!


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